Eldorado, USA - Texas Child Protective Services workers are at the gates of the Yearning For Zion Ranch attempting to serve more court papers related to the massive custody case involving children seized from the property of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.
Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran told the Deseret News his office is merely accompanying CPS workers while they serve the documents.
"We just sent a marked unit to the gate," the sheriff explained, referring any additional questions to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Forty-five miles away, a handful of FLDS men bolted from the courthouse in San Angelo after receiving word that law enforcement was at the ranch's gate. Rumors were flying at the courthouse that police had returned to the ranch to search for more children.
Earlier this morning at the courthouse, a lawyer for a 14-year-old girl that is on a list of so-called "disputed minors" said she is not pregnant as Texas child welfare authorities have alleged.
"My client does not have children. (She) is not pregnant. She's the youngest on the list of disputed minors," said Andrea Sloan.
The judge hearing the case objected, saying that was not what the hearing was about. But Sloan pressed forward.
"The department is communicating to the public that there are 14-year olds who are pregnant," she said.
Texas Child Protective Services caseworker Ashley Kennedy said that investigations were still ongoing.
The bombshell was dropped during the hearing involving Adeline Barlow, 38, the mother of a 10-year-old and the 14-year-old.
During the hearing, Barlow's attorney was critical of the family service plan, noting that it was a blanket statement. The plans, which detail allegations of abuse and what it will take for parents to be reunited with their children, are essentially identical, outlining the same allegations and recommendations for each parent.
"Were you allowed to make any changes?" Barlow's lawyer Jennifer O'Dyer asked.
"I was allowed to make additions," Kennedy replied.
"You weren't allowed to make any changes?"
"I was not allowed to omit anything."
"Why is that?"
"The plan is a starting point," Kennedy said.
CPS authorities say the plans will become more individualized as the marathon custody cases move forward.
Meanwhile, Texas CPS officials have apparently created a task force to come up with service providers who are "culturally sensitive" to the unique beliefs, languages and issues surrounding the Fundamentalist LDS Church.
The task force is meeting this afternoon. Officials say it includes input from both current and former members of the polygamist sect.
In Barlow's case, she is securing housing and has obtained employment in San Antonio to be near her children.
Similar things happened for a number of FLDS members who have moved off the YFZ Ranch to be closer to their children in state foster care facilities.
Barlow's husband, Leroy Steed Jeffs, 55, did not appear in court today. When reached by phone in Hildale, he told a CPS worker that he had seen the family service plan and that, "at this time he was not interested" in participating, Kenndy said.
Five judges are simultaneously holding hearings for the children who were taken from their homes at the YFZ Ranch early last month. The hearings are scheduled to last for three weeks.